system

Here’s a closer look at the PlayStation Portable Go. Sony had a couple of units available to try out at its E3 booth. I was lucky enough to get in and play a couple of games.

First off, I have to say that the buttons are small. They may be even smaller than the Nintendo DSi buttons. The analog nub also feels more compact. I was expecting the smaller form factor to mess up my hands, but the metal shoulder buttons on the top of the system felt nice. They’re curved and almost feel like the old Super Nintendo buttons. Very nice.

The only thing that made me sad was the price. I really didn’t mind the smaller screen. The PSP Go is coming Oct. 1 at a $249 price point.

* Oh, I also forgot to mention that it’ll come in two colors: black and silver.

You have to hand it to our judicial system. It sure has some characters sitting on the bench. There’s our very own rapping judge. There are a couple who like to hand out humiliating punishments.

Now, we have our very own video game jurist, according to the Wall Street Journal. In his decision on the Vivendi-Activision deal, William B. Chandler III, the chief judge of the Delaware Court of Chancer, busted out some interesting World of Warcraft knowledge.

Like in World of Warcraft and other games, the participants in the M&A field take on certain roles, interact in their own community, hone specialized skills, and even develop a unique, somewhat curious vernacular.

I’m assuming he means tanking, pulling, rezing, DOT, etc.

Further on in his decision, he goes into more depth about WoW and the field of Mergers and Acquisitions. The comparison may be a little thin in parts, but it’s pretty funny that he uses the game in a decision between Actiblizzion.

All of this makes me wonder: If Chandler did play WoW, I wonder what kind of character he would be. I vote for a Night Elf priest.

The thing about rumors is that they spread like wildfire and adding the Internet is like dousing the flames with thermonuclear bomb. It gets messy. The impact is widespread and the effects won’t go away.

So in the megaton rumor department, the chief of Famitsu, the most revered video game magazine in Japan, said that a new Nintendo DS is in the works. Apparently, the PSP is gaining steaming in the Land of the Rising Sun and Nintendo is trying to defend its hand-held lead.

It makes sense in a way. So now that the rumor is out and if it has any staying power, we can expect the following:

1) crazier rumors like the new Nintendo DS can cure cancer

2) mock-ups of the machine

3) fanboy debate about whether it’ll be better than the PSP/PSP2

4) salivating as E3 gets closer

5) more speculation about when we’re going to get a next-gen Nintendo DS

Apparently, they are if you A) live in the United Kingdom and B) are a minor. According to the bastion of journalism that is the TimesOnline (that is called sarcasm), a report commissioned by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown found that games “harm the development of childrenâ€™s beliefs and value systems and desensitise them to violence.”

To mitigate this problem, the report encourages a video games rating overhaul and one of the peculiar changes is a prominent display of the new rating. The way the Times London puts it, the UK government want games sold like cigarettes, which is an abhorrent idea.

Right now a lot of country’s are taking a look at their ratings systems and seeing if they do the job. In Australia, they’re doing something similar. The attorneys general there are meeting in a big shindig to decide if an overhaul of ratings policy is needed, according to Australia’s ABC News. Gamers there are hoping for an adult rating so they won’t see more games banned.

As for the stuff that’s going on in the UK, it makes me glad I live in the United States. At least here, we put the onus of raising children on the parents, and we know better than to treat games as something illicit.